Selected text
On June 25, 1941, they started to evacuate us from Rovno farther to the east into the territory of the Soviet Union. We were taken to the railway station by trucks covered with canvas and put into box cars used for transportation of cattle. I could see nothing. As the train passed by my house, those who saw it and who knew me, shouted, "We are passing Haya’s house now!” I couldn’t stick my head out and look because the guards were pushing me with their guns.
The railway was permanently bombed from the planes, but we survived. The free Ukrainians who were with us on the train in other cars, jumped down out of the train to take shelter when the air-raid warning sounded, but we could not because we were being guarded. The Ukrainians showed by gestures to the low-flying German pilots that there were prisoners on the train so perhaps that is how we survived the bombing.
After the alarm was over, the Ukrainians came to each car and asked if anyone was wounded. In this way we reached the city of Kamyshin in the Stalingrad region where we were placed in another prison. In that prison there were only women and two persons had to sleep on one bed.
The railway was permanently bombed from the planes, but we survived. The free Ukrainians who were with us on the train in other cars, jumped down out of the train to take shelter when the air-raid warning sounded, but we could not because we were being guarded. The Ukrainians showed by gestures to the low-flying German pilots that there were prisoners on the train so perhaps that is how we survived the bombing.
After the alarm was over, the Ukrainians came to each car and asked if anyone was wounded. In this way we reached the city of Kamyshin in the Stalingrad region where we were placed in another prison. In that prison there were only women and two persons had to sleep on one bed.
Period
Year
1941
Location
Kamyshin
Russia
Interview
Haya-Lea Detinko